NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Members of the Bentley University women's swimming and diving team made two trips to the awards podium during day two of the 2015 Northeast-10 Conference Championships with both freshman Emily Niemiec (Meriden, Conn./Francis T. Maloney HS) and sophomore Kaitlin McGahie (Boylston, Mass./Tahanto Reg. HS) claiming bronze medals.
Bentley finished day two of the meet in second place, trailing first-place Assumption College by 88 points and owning a 12-point advantage over third-place College of Saint Rose. The championships, being contested at Southern Connecticut State's Hutchinson Natatorium, will run through Sunday.
Both women set school records during the finals. Niemiec broke Amanda Le's one-year-old mark in the 200 yard individual medley by 0.51 seconds with a 2:08.56 while McGahie took possession of the 50 freestyle standard with a 24.48. That was a quarter-of-a-second faster than Jessica Hodsdon's time in 2012.
Also in the 50, senior Danielle Hellstern (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug HS) finished eighth with a 25.12 clocking.
The other individual event contested Friday night saw senior Nadine Edwards (Danbury, Conn./Danbury HS) finish fifth in the 500 free with a 511.62.
Bentley was also fifth in the 400 medley relay with McGahie, Niemiec and Edwards combining with junior Meg Pernsteiner (Highland Heights, Ohio/Hawken School) for a 4:03.43.
The finals of the three-meter diving will be contested Saturday night with three Falcons advancing out of the prelims. Senior Paige Wilde (Naugatuck, Conn./Holy Cross HS), who won the one-meter gold Thursday, was the top qualifier with a 407.40. Junior Courtney Stone (Andover, Mass./Andover HS) was third (375.65) and freshman Kayla Ducharme (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford HS) seventh (233.15).
The championships resume Saturday at 10 am.
